“I am continuing the legacy of Liberian women who came before me, those who plaited the mat on which I sit. But I am also a forebearer of those who will come after me. I am simply keeping the seat warm for them and providing a blueprint of how Liberian women must represent our country…
By Joyclyn Wea, gender correspondent with New Narratives Summary When Charlyne Brumskine learned she had been selected to the coveted post as a judge on the Ecowas Community Court of Justice, her thoughts turned to her late father. Charles Walker Brumskine, the prominent lawyer and four-time presidential candidate who died in 2019, had hoped to…
Similar findings in an investigation in Liberia suggests the practice may be happening across the West Africa By Jennifer Ambolley in collaboration with New Narratives Summary: ● More than seven in 10 women surveyed by The Chronicle in Greater Accra said they take antibiotics every month, in the mistaken belief the drugs “clean” their bodies after menstruation…
People in Victoria’s community told her that her daughter was a dragon. For a time Victoria believed them. Even pastors told her a snake had been sent on her daughter. She tried fasting, praying, spiritual interventions — all of it. ‘Many days, I used to cry over her,’ Victoria said. ‘When you see someone who…
By Tetee Gebro, gender and health correspondent with New Narratives Summary MOUNT BARCLAY, Montserrado County — Victoria remembers the moment when her joy at delivering a baby girl turned to fear. The baby came early, at Victoria’s home. She did not cry. The midwife turned her upside down, trying everything to get a sound out of her….
“We have had so many dialogues,” agriculture entrepreneur Nyamah Dunbar told lawmakers, government officials, and development partners gathered in Monrovia last month for the launch of the consultation findings. Echoing her sisters in the survey, she declared: “I am ready for action.” Joyclyn Wea reports in this social media Video. To read more about this…
The grandmother’s fight for justice exposes the paralysis of Liberia’s judicial system: despite hundreds of reported cases of rape, only two convictions have been secured in six years. Survivors are left without justice, while perpetrators walk free, eroding public trust and leaving families devastated. Tetee Gebro reports in this social media Video. To read more…
By Tetee Gebro, gender and health correspondent with New Narratives Summary: TODEE DISTRICT, Montserrado County — The first time they came, they brought L$18,000 (US$100). The second time the family brought a lapa, a traditional cloth. When the family, whose 24-year-old son had been accused by multiple witnesses of raping the 57-year-old grandmother in broad daylight in front…
By Joyclyn Wea, gender correspondent with New Narratives Summary Liberian women said they are tired of explaining their problems. After years of consultations, meetings, and promises, many of the 160 respondents to a new nationwide consultation across Liberia’s 15 counties said the country’s leaders already know what they need: affordable healthcare, better roads, support for…
For most families, the birth of a child is a moment of joy and anticipation. But when complications arise, that joy can quickly turn into tragedy.Across Liberia, patients and health workers say the inability to pay emergency care costs are leading to death and injury for mothers and babies.As Fatu Kamara reports in this collaboration…
A measles outbreak struck Kiangia Town in January, moving silently from home to home before families realized what was happening. With clinics closed or lacking medicine, parents and grandparents relied on traditional remedies like leaves, honey, and alcohol, which experts say offered no protection. One child, Samuel, just four years old, died, while others suffered…
Liberia’s Inter-Religious Council, the umbrella body representing the country’s major Christian and Muslim institutions, is urging lawmakers to pass a stalled health bill that would expand access to abortion in certain cases, breaking with years of opposition to the measure by religious leaders. Supporters say the bill is needed to reduce deaths and injuries from…
By Tetee Gebro and Joyclyn Wea, gender and health correspondents with New Narratives Summary KIANGIA TOWN, Todee District — The measles came to this town in January. Nobody announced it. Nobody warned families here. It moved quietly from home to home, the way measles does — through the air, between children playing; spreading before anyone understood…
By Joyclyn Wea, gender correspondent with New Narratives Summary: In a major boost to efforts to pass a health bill that would expand access to abortion in Liberia, the Inter-Religious Council, the umbrella body representing the country’s major Christian and Muslim institutions, has called on lawmakers to pass the legislation, breaking with years of religious…
In Liberia, many women in labor face life-threatening delays because hospitals demand upfront payments for emergency procedures. Families are often forced to leave the hospital mid-delivery to raise funds, a desperate situation that has led to mothers dying or suffering severe complications while waiting for care. The practice underscores the devastating impact of poverty and…
By Fatu Kamara with New Narratives Summary: KAKATA, Margibi County — By the time Kolubah Kollie scraped together the last of the money, his daughter was already gravely ill. Zoe Kollie, 29, had been in labor for eighteen hours, some of it endured as she traveled over unpaved roads, when her family finally got her…
Thousands of Liberian women suffer silently from obstetric fistula, a preventable childbirth injury that leaves them leaking urine or feces for years, often in isolation, because maternal health care in Liberia lags decades behind. Despite the fact that 80% of cases could be prevented with timely medical care, limited facilities, poor referral systems, and lack…
In Liberia, many schoolgirls are forced to cut baby diapers in half or use cloth during their periods because sanitary pads are taxed at 30 percent, making them unaffordable. While Ghana has already taken bold steps to provide free pads to schoolgirls, Liberia’s proposed bill to remove taxes on menstrual products remains stalled in committee,…
By Joyclyn Wea, gender correspondent with New Narratives Summary: CESTOS CITY, River Cess County — W. knows what to do when her period comes, and there is no money for pads. She buys baby diapers. We are calling all the girls in the story by their initials to prevent them from further stigma and shame….
In Monrovia, market women say rising prices are making it harder to survive — with fewercustomers and shrinking profits. As the US/Israeli standoff with Iran continues to block as much as 20 percent of the globalsupply of fuel and fertilizer, experts warn worse is yet to come. In this collaboration with New Narratives, Tetee Gebro…
By Augusta S. Lafalay with New Narratives Summary: For fourteen years, S. said she woke up every morning to wet and smelly sheets. She had no name for what was wrong with her. She had no doctor to visit, no clinic that could help. All she had was shame — and silence. It started with…
